New search for long-lost Irish World War II pilot to begin - VIDEO

The crashed World War II plane of Denis Copping discovered in the desert
Photo by: Jakub Perka/BNPS

A UK team will begin searching the Egyptian desert in October for the remains of an Irish World War II fighter pilot, reports the Irish Independent.

Last May, the Cork-based Pryor-Bennett family were told that the human remains found near the wreckage of an RAF fighter plane were not those of the Fl Sgt Denis Copping, who failed to return to base in his Curtiss Kittyhawk fighter in 1942.

It was confirmed through carbon-dating that the remains discovered are "significantly older" than the World War II era.

It is understood that the pilot survived the crash in the Sahara desert in June 1942 before he wandered into the emptiness and was never seen again.

“If he died at the side of the plane his remains would have been found. Once he had crashed there, nobody was going to come and get him. It is more likely he tried to walk out of the desert but ended up walking to his death. It is too hideous to contemplate,” Historian Andy Saunders commented after the wreckage was found.

A UK lead team are supposed to begin a detailed search of the desert around the site this month.